December 9, 2003

PRO-BA'ATHISTS NEED NOT APPLY:

The Pentagon has formally barred companies from countries opposed to the Iraq war from bidding on $18.6-billion (U.S.) worth of reconstruction contracts.

A directive from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz limits bidders on those 26 contracts to firms from the United States, Iraq, their coalition partners and other countries which have sent troops to Iraq.

The ruling bars companies from U.S. allies such as France, Germany and Canada from bidding on the contracts because their governments opposed the American-led war that ousted Saddam Hussein's regime.

The Wolfowitz memo, dated Friday and posted on a Pentagon web site Tuesday, says restricting contract bids "is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States."

This makes perfect sense while the "allies" will complain to high heaven over it. Other countries (and some politicians) need to be taught the lesson of cause and effect.
Timothy - good point. I've been using the Little Red Hen analogy since the war began - if little kids can understand it then adults should as well.

I'm not sure but there's also an (overriding, perhaps?) security issue here, regarding just who will be employed by the contracting companies of nations that opposed the Iraq war/nations that greatly benefited financially from the status quo ante (i.e., from Saddam).

To be sure, the same security concerns could be cited for firms from the US and allied countries; but steps taken by the US to manage such concerns would, presumably, be more effective with, and meet less resistance from, the allied countries.

So, no, I don't believe we're not dealing here with mere vindictiveness. Though it would certainly give satisfaction to many on both ends of the spectrum to believe so.

Now if one of the first official acts of a newly reconstituted Iraqi government is to repudiate Saddam's debts since 1991, the defeat of the Franco-German attempt to save their bad investments will be complete.

Time to put the financial backers of thugs and dictatorships on notice that there are better investments out there.

Is this move a tip of the hat that there is another invasion planned sometime over the next few years and that the pro-Baathists should learn their lesson? If Iraq was the last stop on Bush's muslim world tour, wouldn't it make sense to give those countries a small piece of the action, despite how horrible they've been, just for the sake of being magnanimous?